Nuggets coach George Karl said he has watched his team pick up bushels of unwarranted fouls for too long and he’s tired of it, particularly in the case of star forward Carmelo Anthony.
“Melo gets beat up more than any other player in the NBA without getting a whistle,” said Karl after the Nuggets’ 116-105 win over Washington on Friday night. “And I’ve watched game after game after game. Melo gets smacked. Smacked. And doesn’t get a whistle. We attack the rim. We get to the rim more than most teams in the NBA. They get little touch fouls, and we get body contact.”
Karl said referees rarely offer good reasons why fouls are called.
“They always have a reason, the referees always have a reason: ‘His hands (aren’t) straight up’ or ‘He jumped,’ ” Karl said. “It’s sometimes frustrating for our guys to keep their focus. But that’s what we’re going to have to do. If we don’t get a good whistle here, we’re not going to get a good whistle on the road. We just got to go out and fight, compete, forget about it and keep competing. We’ve done that all year long.”
Going into Friday’s game, the Nuggets led the league in free-throw attempts with an average of 30.5 per game. They got 33 attempts against the Wizards, and Anthony took 10.
“Sometimes I think there’s almost a punishment for shooting the most free throws in the league,” Karl said. “It’s like we get labeled. ‘What are you complaining about? You shoot the most free throws in the league.’ Well, every possession is different. Every possession is new. Just because we got four calls doesn’t mean the next call shouldn’t come. You referee the game possession by possession.”
